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It was widely acknowledged that the one who credited for defeating Thanos was Carol.
The one who reversed the snap was Tony.
Then Tony said, ‘That’s it. Iron Man’s returning to his roots. The Avengers have two weeks to get out of my tower and get their own places.’
Then, just to show he was serious, he cut off all funding to the Avengers. He deactivated their gear, and took his quinjets back. Any attempts to enter his home or his office buildings were met with one or more of the Iron Legion. They had no idea who Spider-Man was, so Natasha couldn’t try and get to Tony through him.
They were forced to leave, and they ended up on Fury’s doorstep.
‘Well, what d’you expect me to do about it?’ Fury demanded. ‘He cut S.H.I.E.L.D. off too. Stark ain’t fucking around. He’s done with us. So is Rhodes. And they’ve got a whole bunch of other enhanced friends, including Marvel. Get over it and move on.’
‘Tony’s an Avenger!’ Steve insisted. ‘Besides, with the loss of Vision we need all the manpower we can get.’
Fury shook his head. ‘Stark’s a civilian. And right now he’s one of the most powerful bastards on the face of the planet. Don’t you remember a few months ago, Rogers? It’s still floating all over the place. As far as they’re concerned, you’re the guy that fucked it up. Stark and Danvers are the ones who saved the day.’
Steve ground his teeth. ‘I still don’t understand it! No one could have stopped Thanos then! Surely, the people must understand that.’
Fury chuckled. ‘You’re giving them too much credit, Rogers. We humans are assholes who like to hold someone accountable when shit hits the fan – especially on the level it did. Stark wasn’t meant to be the big hero – you were. So when half the world vanishes, it’s not Stark’s fault. It’s yours. Then Stark and Danvers come back from space and less than a week later, the dead are restored. Trust me, those two are pretty popular right now.’
‘The invasion is over,’ Natasha stated. ‘Thanos is dead. Captain America has fallen from grace, totally and completely. In his place, Iron Man and Captain Marvel have risen up.’
Clint spoke up. ‘So, Stark can just kick us to the curb and no one’ll say anything against it.’
‘Pretty much,’ Fury said. ‘Stark’s cutting off all his dead weight. And, believe me, with all the shit he’s had to push through for you in the past eight years, you bunch of jackasses are dead weight. If he didn’t see Thanos coming, I’ve got no doubt he’d have dumped you years ago.’
‘But we’re his friends!’ Steve insisted.
‘No, we’re not,’ Natasha said calmly, causing him to freeze. ‘Friends imply trust. Admit it, Steve. You never trusted him. His friends are Rhodey, Pepper, and Happy. His new friends are Danvers, Nebula, Strange, and Spider-Man. We are not his friends. We were teammates he had to tolerate until he was sure the world was safe.’
‘The Gravy Train made its stop,’ Fury stated. ‘And we were all booted off.’
***
Fury sat back in his office. After a full two hours of arguing with Rogers, his head was throbbing. Stark was done with them and that was that. He finally understood that the reason his old man never had time at home was because he was dealing with S.H.I.E.L.D. on top of his company. So, yeah. Stark understood the old bastard in ways he never could as a kid and he was not going to allow history to repeat itself.
At all, he thought, looking at the records on his computer screen.
Stark was going to make sure that S.H.I.E.L.D. could never operate in the covert manner which it had before. If they were to still exist, they would be forced to exist in the same manner as the CIA or the NSA. There was nothing Fury or anyone else could ever do with it. What not even Romanoff had ever understood was that, as powerful as S.H.I.E.L.D. was, that power had come from the money and influence of the Starks. That was why Howard had been kept on for so long, despite Carter neither liking nor trusting him (though why, Fury was rather lost on even after all these years), and it was why they’d reeled Tony in.
And now Tony was wiping his hands of them.
There was a knock on his door and Fury flicked away the now-useless record. Hill walked in.
Fury took one look at her face. ‘What’d they do this time?’ he demanded.
‘They tried to charge into Stark Tower and force a confrontation,’ Hill said. ‘Wanda was shot with a dart and now she can’t use her powers.’ She held the iPad out.
Fury took it and huffed and he got up and strode down to med-bay. Yeah, Stark was going all-out.
The minute he stepped into the med-bay, Rogers was on him. ‘Fury, Tony did something to Wanda!’
Fury gave him a bland look. ‘You mean after you broke into his home?’ He only used the word “home” because he knew that would have more of an effect on certain people – namely Rogers and Wilson.
Wilson looked shame-faced, at least.
Rogers’s face did a complex little twist. He knew it was the wrong thing to do, and he knew Tony had the right to defend his home, but he didn’t want to admit it. ‘We didn’t have a choice! He wasn’t listening.’
‘Oh, who do you think you’re kidding, Rogers?’ Fury asked. ‘Stark made it clear he wanted nothing more to do with us, and you didn’t like it, so you went in to try and force him to do what you wanted.’
Fury had gotten the message loud and clear from Danvers when she came to confront him for his continued harassment of Tony.
‘He’s a civilian, for crying out loud! If he wants nothing to do with you, he has that right. Hell, Howard Stark should never have had anything to do with you! And I’m wondering just what was going through his skull to be so deeply involved in S.H.I.E.L.D. Do you have any idea the trouble he’d have gotten in if it was discovered while he was still alive? He was a goddamn arms manufacturer! And look at what you’ve done to that family. It’s high time somebody broke the cycle!’
Which meant she was not only going to stand by Tony, but she was going to fight for him if need be.
‘He still attacked Wanda!’ Rogers tried to divert Fury’s attention. ‘She can’t use her powers now!’
Fury rolled his eye. ‘He fired a dart full of nanites at her, Rogers.’
‘Well, get rid of them!’ Rogers insisted.
Hill made a sceptical sound. ‘Rogers, do you know what nanites are?’
‘Billions and billions of tiny little robots, all programmed to do one thing,’ Fury said. ‘In this case, suppress Maximoff’s power.’
Rogers’s eyes narrowed. ‘Then I guess I’ll have to get him to turn them off.’ He headed for the door.
Fury smirked. Oh, please do, Rogers. It would make my life so much easier.
Barton snorted. ‘And how do you know he won’t do the same thing to you?’
Rogers froze, as if that thought had never occurred to him, and slowly turned. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Stark developed something that can go into the blood and suppress enhancements,’ Romanoff said. ‘I don’t know if you noticed, but the serum is in your blood. He’s got one batch of these. He’s sure to have more. And after what you did, I doubt he’d be inclined to show any mercy.’
Fury knew precisely what she was talking about, but it appeared that Rogers hadn’t told anyone else about the events of Siberia.
Rogers shook his head. ‘He was fine with us during the invasion.’
Natasha cocked an eyebrow. ‘Stark’s a businessman, Rogers. A businessman that took his father’s multi-million dollar American company and turned it into a multi-billion dollar giant of industry, and then successfully turned it from an armaments-based company into a technology-based one. He will work with people he doesn’t trust an inch if he has to. And, in that case, he had to.’ She shook her head. ‘But don’t think for a second he trusted any of us.’
Barton nodded. ‘He barely even spoke to us. He got all his information from the talking racoon, Potts, Banner, and Rhodes.’
No, Stark didn’t trust them an inch.
But, judging from the look on his face, Rogers clearly wasn’t going to let it go.
***
Rhodey chuckled as Tony made an outrageous suggestion.
Pepper just chuckled and said, ‘No.’
‘But honey...’ he whined.
Pepper leaned up and kissed him just before she was drawn out of the room by a familiar sound. ‘I will never doubt your dreams again,’ she muttered, standing up and walking off.
‘Dream?’ Rhodey asked.
‘Meh!’ Tony waved it off, while still managing to look giddy.
‘What’d I miss?’ Rhodey asked.
‘Pepper’s pregnant.’